Higher education provides a broad array of benefits to both individuals and society. While such a statement has been a long-held belief in American higher education, only recently has the combination of social and economic benefits that accrue from the investment in higher education received sustained attention. This study attempts to build on recent efforts to better describe the broad national benefits of higher education by calculating state-by-state benefits using readily available data from the U.S. Census. The six indicators chosen for this analysis convincingly show that almost every state benefits from higher education in every indicator, even as some states benefit more than others. 7 tables are appended.
